Recommended Posts

When JustSim released their excellent LCLK - Laranca only six months ago, it felt like it was the far end of the world, or Europe at least, as it was a lonely outpost on Cypress on the far eastern end of the Mediterranean. But that far away point is now not so isolated in flying terms. A flurry of excellent sceneries have now filled in the void, including LTAI - Antalya International Airport again by JustSim, Chios Island National Airport by Descent2View and of course Corfu with FlyCorfu XP by FlyTampa... you can also add in a few freeware sceneries for more routing out here, but going or crossing these areas of Greece has now become a busy pastime... now JustSim have added in another very desirable destination with LGRP - Rhodes or as it is known locally as Diagoras International Airport.

Obviously you had to connect JustSim's LCLK - Laranca to their newer LGRP Rhodes as it is only a 300 nm hop from one airport to the other...

... basically it is only an hour's flying time, but who would not miss that perfect flying day and in that Cobalt blue sky (pun intended), the ToLiSS319 also helped things along enormously. Approach is into RWY25 from the East and there is something about this area in X-Plane11 that brings out the best in the scenery, the light and the soft mist on the mountains. This approach path takes you over the port of Rhodes itself and the harbour.

There is a mix here of (German) autogen and custom local buildings, and they all well meld into each other well (more on this later)

Rhodes (Diagoras) International Airport is situated on the north side of the island of Rhodes in Greece. The facility is located just north of the village Paradeisi (really the airport is in or part of Paradeisi), and about 14 km southwest of the capital city, Rodos. Interestingly is that the airport is open to the sea to the north and hemmed in by a hillside to the south.

First impressions are impressive, this is a JustSim scenery after all as you know what to expect in good modelling detail and excellent blending in with the custom to default mesh and textures. The blending in is even better here as the hillside is very lush with vegetation, fauna, custom trees and bushes.

As noted there are custom buildings to compliment the autogen as JustSim usually do provide a little local flavor to their sceneries and don't restrict the scenery just to the airport, in this case it covers the village of Paradeisi, which basically surrounds the whole airport to the east and west.

JustSim have been smart in not making their custom buildings completely Greek, in say white, white. but a sort of mid-way but still custom. This does blend in well with the German autogen although you can still tell the difference in the different areas, but it not as bad a it really could have been. In other words it all works very well as a complete scenario from the air on both approach paths.

The german autogen however is more noticeable in the Rodos city itself and the lack of local colour and port facilties. Where as Rhodes should be Greek Classic white, it looks more of an Italian port than Greek. This is where FlyTampa gave the Corfu scenery a boost in covering this city area as well as the airport itself in the same feel and architectural design, it also highlights the limitations of Laminar Research's current situation with regional autogen, as white Greek/Turkish Mediterranean default autogen should be now a no brainer and available for X-Plane these days.

Another small oddity is the none development by JustSim of the airport LGRD - Martisa which is positioned (arrowed) only just behind the same hill that covers LGRP...

... It is highly visible, but it only required a few buildings and a few bits and pieces to make it a great GA viable alternative to LGRP? Instead it is a wasted blank area in the middle of the scenery?

LRGP - Diagoras

The airport layout is one large apron and remote stands, and no airbridges. Stands cover 1 to 7 in front of the terminal with semi-circle parking and stands 8 to 14 are set in a line farther out. Stand 10 covers the entrance to Taxiway B, so don't depart the runway there! and stand 14 is a large stand that is noted to cater for a wide-body ICAO category E and F (65m (213.3') - 80m (262.5'); 14m (45.9') - 16m (52.5') or Boeing 747 size.

Terminal

The single terminal is impressive, if an odd colour that does not translate well. The terminal construction and materials/textures are excellent with the well done lighting ramp towers.

Airside detail is excellent with walk-on ramps from the terminal down to the apron, clutter ramp detailing is also top notch. There is a huge amount of animated vehicles that are mostly baggage carts and maybe to many, and to the point you have to be careful taxiing around the ramp and not squashing one or two of them, but there is a huge amount of activity to be had.

Landside is as good and if not better than Airside. Loads of people, taxi's, buses and god knows what else creates a dynamic environment.

Only odd thing is the colour of the roads and carparks, which are more green and grass like than the required asphalt grey/dark roadway, it tends not to blend in more than it should?

High view down on Diagoras is complimented by the high positioned (PARADISI - 108.6 PAR) DME navigation aid, not to be confused with the close by (RODOS 115.8 RDS) Nav-Aid for LGRD - Martisa. Note the great view over the Aegean Sea and the coastline is Turkey.

Control Tower

The tower is on the west side of the terminal and connected to the terminal.

Detail and the all important tower glass is excellent, it is a nice great reconstruction... The tower view of the approaches by Just Sim is not set (Again!).

... garages, car rental... usual stuff but well done. Most areas however are not set to the OSM (Open Street Map) settings, so buildings, trees and signage cover roads and are set out in areas that they really shouldn't be in, it makes the scenery quite messy and not authentic in areas, a bit more time in laying out these items would have made it far better, it feels rushed?

Ground textures

Runway and taxiway surface textures are excellent, and highly realistic with tar, cracks and general repair work visible, Apron square concrete textures are very authentic...

.... grass is 3d and excellent, although in parts the navigation signs are covered with grass, but then this is Greece! Water is also blended in well to the ground textures for that nice shallow water feel. Runway textures are reflective in the right wet conditions, and looks excellent if you land late in the day.

Lighting

JustSim's LGRP has great lighting...

... approach lighting is very good from both directions, but it is slightly better from the east. All taxiway lighting have no centreline (green) markings as per most airports in Greece, so you will need the aircraft side turn lighting to find your way to or from the terminal area.

Apron lighting is very good, but only on the terminal side, as if you get to park on the outer stands then you are sitting in the darkness.

Debatable is the reflective blue terminal glass, as many people won't like it, but I really liked it a lot, and for me it works very well with the contrasting control tower base lighting. All landside lighting is very good as well, as all areas are covered including carparks, terminal approach lighting, and general areas.

Apron lighting stands 1 to 7 and 14 are great and well lit working areas and any arrival here after dark is very impressive.

Exceptional is the custom building lighting, windows at night are not those ugly grey rectangles, but ar eas good as the quality autogen lighting, so they all blend in well together. I have wondered ( and complained) why it is so hard not to do good custom building lighting? If you get it right as it is here it make a huge difference to the approaches and also to the quality of the night environment. Overall the lighting is excellent.

Preview Notes:

JustSim again really deliver, as LGRP is great scenery at an unbelievable price, and like all JustSim sceneries which are not ultra high detailed scenery, but you do always get the latest in X-Plane dynamic features (like reflective glass), great lighting, lots of animated items like ground traffic and wet surfaces and the modeling is usually of a very high quality... and they just deliver. The experience is full, from the approach (at night it is brilliant) to the quality aprons and with surrounding clutter and detail and the X-Plane11 dynamics, LGRP - Rhodes well worth the investment and a worthwhile companion to LCLK - Laranca and JustSim's other local airport in LTAI - Antalya... highly recommended.

Features noted are:

Detailed airport objects and vehicles

Custom textured taxiways, runways and apron

Custom surroundings

Custom airport lights

Compatible with X-Plane 11 features

Animated ground vehicles (X-Plane 11 only)

Shading and occlusion (texture baking) effects on terminal and other airport buildings

High resolution ground textures / Custom runway textures

High resolution building textures

Excellent night effects

Realistic reflections on glass

World Traffic compatible

X-Life traffic compatible

Optimized for excellent performance

WT3: WorldTraffic GroundRoutes are provided ready to be included with the scenery. Overall the airport functions perfectly fine in giving you that full running airport and full traffic activity. And the aircraft will also loop to the correct stand parking position. A few private jets take up stands that they shouldn't do, but otherwise it is full marks.

Positives: Mostly everything, lighting is excellent, texture and building design is first rate and all with excellent clutter and traffic animations. Excellent value.

Negatives: Rodos City and Port would have been a nice addition, even for a higher purchase price. Tower View is not really usable (again), buildings and trees are not aligned to OSM layouts, so roads are full of trees and part buildings. Landside terminal roads and carparks are the wrong colour (very light green?).... and why wasn't close by LGRD - Martisa airport added into to the scenery?

____________________________________________________________________

Yes!... LGRP - Rhodes International Airport by JustSim is Available from the X-Plane.Org Store here :